March 3 (Bloomberg) -- The first witness in the
premeditated murder trial of Paralympian gold medalist Oscar
Pistorius heard “blood-curdling screams” from a woman in the
early hours of the morning his girlfriend was shot.

Double-amputee Pistorius, 27, pleaded not guilty today in
the Pretoria High Court to purposefully shooting model Reeva
Steenkamp at his home on Valentine’s day last year. Dressed in a
black suit and tie, Pistorius stood as his lawyer, Barry Roux,
spelled out a case of accidental death. The first day of the
scheduled three-week trial adjourned at about 3:45 p.m. local
time after starting 90 minutes late.

“Just after 3, I woke up from a woman’s terrible
screams,” Michelle Burger, a neighbor of Pistorius in Pretoria,
told the court as the state’s first witness. “She screamed
terribly and she yelled for help.” Burger said she heard a shot
and then three more shots after a pause.

Known as the Blade Runner because of his J-shaped
prosthetic running blades, Pistorius has admitted to shooting
Steenkamp three times while she was in his bathroom, believing
she was an intruder. He also denied guilt for three separate
firearms charges. The presiding judge, Thokozile Matilda Masipa,
will rule on the case as South Africa doesn’t have a jury
system.

‘No Argument’

Members of both families sat in the first of six rows of
benches in the wood-paneled court for a trial broadcast live on
radio and parts of the proceedings on television. Pistorius, who
has been free on 1 million rand ($93,000) bail since February
2013, wrote notes to his legal team from the accused bench.

Reeva’s mother, June Steenkamp, left the court surrounded
by family members shortly before a throng of cameramen and
onlookers mobbed Pistorius’s car after he left the building.

“There was no argument,” Roux said in court, reading a
statement from Pistorius. “I deny this allegation in the
strongest terms because there was no argument.”

Roux questioned differences in testimony from Burger, one
of more than 100 witnesses the prosecution may call, and her
initial statement to police.

The start of the trial was delayed to ensure an Afrikaans
interpreter was available, according to Emily Dlamini, a
spokeswoman for the Department of Justice.

Most Influential

Burger complained about the quality of the interpretation
of her words from Afrikaans to English.

“She is interpreting what I am saying, some of the words
are not exactly the same,” Burger, who also speaks English,
said in court. “And then I’m correcting her in English.”

Apart from the murder charge, Pistorius faces two counts of
illegally firing a gun in public and one of illegally possessing
ammunition.

The trial of the man once on Time magazine’s list of the
100 most influential people is set to be South Africa’s
equivalent of the case of ex-National Football League star O.J.
Simpson. One television company is dedicating a 24-hour channel
to the story and as many as 80 international media companies
have reporters in court.

Multichoice, a unit of Naspers Ltd., and Primedia
Broadcasting Ltd. were granted permission to provide the
coverage, High Court Judge Dunstan Mlambo said. Multichoice must
provide a free feed to other television channels under the
ruling.

The charges have derailed the running career of the winner
of six Paralympic gold medals and cost Pistorius sponsorship
deals with Nike Inc. and Luxottica Group SpA’s Oakley. He was
the first double amputee to compete at the Olympics Games in
London in 2012.